Five Mistake I Made as a New Real Estate Agent

When I got started in real estate, I made a number of critical mistakes...not the show-stopper kind (though I surely made some of those, too), but the kind of mistakes that just make life a hassle.

Here are my Top Five and tips avoid them:

Secure a Personal Email Address: Don't get sucked into getting only a company email address. Even though you may love your new real estate company and never want to leave, never is a long time, and getting in touch with every client, past client, agent, vendor, attorney, closing company, etc., means someone will fall through the cracks when it comes time to move on. Your email list is your lifeline. Get a public email address like Yahoo!, Gmail, or the like, or better yet, register a domain in your name (like joesmithrealestate.com, and get an attached email like joe@joesmithrealestate.com.

Have Your Home Address Be Your Mailing Address: I've seen mail come to my offices for agents who'd left years before...when you use a company address, it can become tough after a few years of giving it out to remember who needs to be updated if you move on (see #1 above). Sure, the Post Office will forward your mail, but not everything gets forwarded. Have your home be your mailing base, so no matter what company you work for, you'll get all work-related documents, publications, etc.

Plan for Your Taxes: The best advice I ever got, but failed to implement? Open up two bank accounts: one for operating expenses, one for taxes. Now that you're self-employed, you'll need to have money set aside to pay your taxes, and it takes a lot of discipline if they are lumped together. Open a separate account that penalizes you when you exceed a certain number of withdrawals...you should only need to write 4-6 checks a year from this account. Nothing is worse than panicking during your quarterly tax preparation.

Register Your Name on Emerging Websites Right Away: If you have a popular name (or even if you don't), when a hot, new website starts to become popular, you need to secure a user name right away, even if you don't decide to use the site or invest in the technology. I use DeborahRutter for some sites, but was forced to use DeborahARutter when someone else with my name registered before I did. That makes it confusing for clients trying to research and find you (and they do and will).

Make sure your Buyers Are Pre-Approved for a Loan: Unless your buyers have cash, be sure a local, trusted lender has given them a once-over. Most buyers have no idea what their credit position or score is, if they have things on their credit report that need repairing or how much they can really borrow. Driving buyers around for weeks only to discover they can't get a loan or are looking in the wrong price range is a waste of time, money, fuel and sanity. Buyers and you need to know that they are willing, ready and able to buy.

More from this Contributor:
10 Ways to Be Sure Your Real Estate Buyer's Agent is Taking Care of You!
Seeing Houses with Your Buyer Agent...An Inside Look at What Happens
House-Hunting? Make Sure You Know Who is (or Isn't) Working for You!